Our team

Jenny is Head of Families at Nugent and currently acts as the Panel Advisor at our Adoption Panel.

Before joining Nugent Adoption in January 2023, Jenny spent 5 years as the Head of Service for the Merseyside Regional Adoption. Over the previous 20 years, Jenny worked as a children’s social worker, and managed services in both the statutory and local authority settings overseeing Child in Need, Children Protection, Children Looked After, and Adoption cases.

Jenny has worked in Adoption for 8 years now and says she loves the work immensely.

“Adoption is a complex yet important permanence option for children and the outcomes are evidence based. I enjoy and thrive working in adoption. There is always something new to learn in the adoption sector, keeping children at the centre of social work practice.”

Paula has worked for Nugent Adoption since March 2009, initially as one of the assessing social workers and then as the Assistant Manager.

Prior to working for Nugent, Paula was employed by the Local Authority, both in a Family Centre and also in the Adoption Service for 5 years.

Being an adoptive parent herself, adoption is Paula’s chosen area of social work. Paula finds engaging with our Nugent families and supporting our social workers to undertake their work, very satisfying and a role she enjoys immensely.

“I appreciate how essential it is to have a social work team that you can trust to support you through the adoption process and I believe this is something we do really well at Nugent Adoption.”

Area(s) of expertise: Level One Theraplay, Level One DDP, Therapeutic parenting (and supporting families) and direct work with children and young people.

Emma has worked with children and families since leaving school. Prior to gaining her BA (Hons) in Social Work, Emma worked as a support worker for children with disabilities. After qualifying, Emma worked as a Supervising Social Worker in an Independent Fostering agency for 10 years, before moving on to Nugent Adoption. Emma has been in this role for the past 6 years.

Emma’s role involves all aspect of Adoption Support (pre and post adoption order), including working with and supporting children and families throughout their adoption journey. Emma also supports Adopted Adults to access their adoption records (and provides counselling around this) along with a tracing and intermediary service for Adopted Adults and Birth family relatives.

Emma is friendly and approachable, working hard to support children and their Families within Nugent and advocate on their behalf.

Area(s) of expertise: Level One Theraplay, Level One DDP, Therapeutic parenting (and supporting families) and direct work with children and young people.

Dara has worked with children and families throughout her social worker career. Having gained a BA (Hons) in Human Services and an MA in Social Work, Dara initially spent 10 years as a Supervising Social Worker for an Independent Fostering agency. Following that, Dara moved to Nugent Adoption, where she has been an Adoption Support Worker for the past 6 years.

Dara’s role involves all aspects of Adoption Support (pre and post adoption order), including working with and supporting children and families throughout their adoption journey. Dara also supports Adopted Adults to access their adoption records (and provide counselling around this) along with a tracing and intermediary service for Adopted Adults and Birth family relatives.

As well as being a friendly, bubbly and approachable person, Dara is a strong advocate who strives to ensure the best possible outcomes for the children and families she works with.

Qualifications/experience: MA Social Work, BA Applied Social SciencesArea(s) of expertise: Children & Family Social Work Settings.

Denice is a reliable, helpful and friendly addition to the team. Working as an Adoption Social Worker, Denice’s responsibilities include training, assessments and Family Finding.

Area(s) of expertise: Safeguarding,Child protection, PRICE.

Before joining Nugent Adoption, Carol worked in Residential Child Care for over 15 years as a Team Leader and Senior Child Care Worker. Carol’s responsibilities as an Adoption Social Worker include performing assessments, writing PAR/reports, Family Finding, Matching, Supervising Applicants, and PREPARATION group training.

Julie is our Adoption Admin Supervisor. She joined the Nugent Adoption Team in September 2021 after 5 years working within the NHS. Prior to this Julie worked for WWISH Adoption Service (now TFA) for 12 years, so she has lots of experience within Adoption.

Julie’s role involves organising the Adoption Panels, minuting the meetings and ensuring everything runs smoothly and efficiently. Julie has 5 children of her own and 4 grandchildren who are a big part of her life. One of Julie’s children is currently going through the adoption process themselves, so she hopes to be an adoptive grandparent in the future.

Area(s) of expertise: CHARMS, Stage One.

Gill has been with Nugent Adoption for over 20 years. As our Administration Assistant, Gill prides herself on being friendly and approachable. Her role requires her to handle initial enquires, update CHARMS, performs Stage One checks, and handles access to records.

Carly is one of our Adoption Social Workers who joined us in June. Carly does the same role as Denice and Carol.

Carly has been in Social Work since 2004 after qualifying at Sheffield Hallam University. She has worked for a wide variety of Local Authorities undertaking various roles and projects and is enjoying her new role in the Voluntary Adoption Sector.